October 30, 2006

It’s election time and media is the enemy. Or so it appears.During the heat of the campaign, newspapers are frequent targets. Accusations of biased coverage and favoritism toward candidates are par for the course.But racism? That’s not so frequent.The Oct. 5 edition of the Markham Economist & Sun featured a column by assistant editor Rick Vanderlinde, basically decrying the lack serious contention for the office of mayor.Long-time regional councillor Frank Scarpitti is up against three contenders.Sam Orrico is being held by police on an alleged threat against Mr. Scarpitti, Steven Kotyck — who clarified mispronunciations of his name as “Kotyck as in psychotic” during a recent all-candidates meeting and Partap Dua, who wants to separate Markham from the rest of York.Rick wrote name recognition goes a long way in the voter’s minds. It’s no secret Mr. Scarpitti’s been in the game for years.Recently, Mr. Dua — a Canadian of Sikh origin who routinely presses that point when asked about his platform — taped a two-minute clip for Rogers Cable to present his platform. You can watch it here. Mr. Dua begins his segment: “Dear Markham residents. The Markham Economist has portrayed me as a non-serious contender.”Then, pointing to his head, he continues: “Perhaps my conspicuous physical appearance has something to do with it.”He then talks about the accomplishments of Sikhs through history.The implication is pretty clear.So, I asked Rick about it.

Joe Voter: “Let me give you the opportunity to explain what you wanted to accomplish with your column.”Rick Vanderlinde: “It was just sort of pointing out the obvious. That we have a career politician in Frank Scarpitti that is bound to have advantages and I was pulling that out for the reader who might not be so familiar with local politics. Explaining the hurdles these other guys face — not having the money, the experience to challenge Mr. Scarpitti. It was really not to endorse Mr. Scarpitti but also to point out that this isn’t necessarily a good thing.”

JV: “There is some controversy about the fact we’ve got one person considered a front runner and others who are considered at the back of the pack. Is that something you’d prejudged at the beginning of the column?”RV: “No doubt about it. It’s an opinion piece and definitely my judgment. Mr. Scarpitti garnered in the last election 28,000 votes. He’s been at this 20-odd years. It’s just the way it is. Actually, the three fellows I interviewed, the challengers, more or less all agreed.

JV: “At the beginning of many of Mr. Dua’s public speeches — I know he started this way with me, he started this way at the all-candidates meeting in Markham chambers — he makes statements about his Sikh heritage. In some of the criticism about the paper writing him out of the race, he’s directly linking it to the possibility that it may be because he’s a Sikh. Are you a racist?”RV: “No, of course not. Far from it. I’m probably one who pushes the agenda for minorities here by pushing certain stories. As a matter of fact, one of the stories we did about the lack of visible minorities on regional council was pushed by me.”

JV: “How then do you respond to an accusation that Mr. Dua may have been written out of the race because it has something to do with the clothes he wears or his heritage?”RV: “If you look at the fact there are two other gentlemen in this column, Mr. Orrico and Mr. Kotyck — there’s three guys here, not just one person. So it really wasn’t something going after Mr. Dua particularly.”

October 18, 2006

Best line of the week goes to Woodbridge incumbent Councillor Tony Carella in Vaughan, who was asked at a candidates meeting Wednesday night if he thought a proposed community health centre would meet the medical needs of Vaughan residents.Mr. Carella had just finished hearing challenger Aurelio Acquaviva claim he’d donate 10 per cent of his salary to the construction of a Vaughan hospital and say he believes there is enough money to start construction now.“Hospitals are not grown in the forests north of Kenora,” Mr. Carella said.Well, obviously. Everyone knows hospitals are native to the Queen’s Park Circle and Wellesley Street West area of downtown Toronto.

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Next door in Markham, commuters hitting the streets this week have been greeted by the multi-coloured election signs popping up with increased frequency on regional roads.Everyone loves a catchy slogan.So why are most of them so bland and others downright confusing?Case in point: regional councillor candidate Khalid Usman’s purple/white/black signs.Mr. Usman’s name is written in white letters across a purple background with the exception of the ‘S’ (the second letter in his last name) which is reversed, purple on white.Many candidates running for office will alter their names if they have an ‘L’ or a ‘V’ in them to make those letters look like a checkmark — alluding to a cast ballot. But an ‘S’? What does it mean?There’ve been great political slogans throughout the years: “Tippecanoe and Tyler too” was used by William Henry Harrison and John Tyler in the 1840s on their way to the presidency and vice-presidency of the United States.Regional councillor candidate Jack Heath’s slogan: “Jack gets things done!” may be useful to prove the incumbent’s track record but it doesn’t really inspire.Where are all the people who said they’d make an election issue out of the driveway widening bylaw?They’ve missed a golden slogan opportunity in “John Q Public for you and widening too”.

And a quick note to say get well soon to outgoing Markham Mayor Don Cousens, who received a kidney transplant earlier this week.We’re all pulling for you, Mr. Cousens.

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Hey, Richmond Hill speed demons ... Derek Wu is coming for you.The Ward 6 challenger says he’s going to set up electronic monitoring for jerks hitting obscene speeds if the neighbours are good with it.Another wonderful piece of shrapnel from the explosion of traffic congestion. Take a drive across south York Region any weekday and it’s pretty obvious lots of people are jumping off the major routes and into neighbourhoods during peak hours, using family-friendly communities as their own personal dragstrip.This kind of monitoring might get the leadfoots to ease up a touch.

October 04, 2006

So, Sam Orrico is running for mayor in Markham for the third time. Who would've thought it?Frank Scarpitti better have a solid platform and be tops on the issues.Looking at those running for regional council spots, some simple math comes to mind.There are four seats and two incumbents (Jack Heath and Jim Jones) because current regional rep Mr. Scarpitti wants to be mayor and Bill O'Donnell dropped out of the race late last week.Let's say the incumbents both get in.That leaves two spots with a high-profile candidate in former provincial rep Tony Wong, who has already served on council. Let's say voters return him locally. That leaves one.Current Ward 7 Councillor Khalid Usman is popular at council with those in public gallery and he was especially so during the whole driveway widening debacle. Does he have the stuff down the stretch to fend off a Gordon Landon?

Looks like politics is a family affair in Richmond Hill. Incumbent Elio Di Iorio and his wife, Sandra, are both up for local councillor jobs. Everyone knows Elio as the quick-talking Green Party-affiliated environmentalist, but what about his wife? She’s keen on justice issues and she's got the papers to prove it -- Law Enforcement and Security Administration from Georgian College and Psychology from York University. She has worked the past five years with troubled youth in a detention centre in downtown Toronto.Wife and husband in politics in the same town? It'll never fly. Oh, wait: there's NDP leader Jack Layton and his wife, Olivia Chow, in Ottawa along with Conservatives Nina and Gurmant Grewal who briefly served together in the House of Commons.Also, don't forget Mary Ruffolo, up for local council in Vaughan, and her husband Gino who, until this week, was running for mayor.And speaking of Vaughan, they're out of the gate in a horserace being watched around the GTA.

September 26, 2006

For months before election campaigning was really under way, daily e-mails from all corners of Vaughan about every municipal subject under the sun were hitting the in-boxes of most government figures under the PM. Since the youngsters went back to school, which seems to have signified the unofficial start to the campaign, the e-mails have slowed to a trickle.Is it maybe because the senders don't want these tactics used on them if they reach office?

Meanwhile in Markham...Tony Wong has made the jump from the halls of the provincial legislature to compete for one of four Markham regional council posts. The veteran politico made it official Monday. A step down? Not if he's successful municipally and the Grits get tossed on their ears in the Oct. 2007 provincial election.It’s only a year away and some big shot candidates around the region are already gathering their troops.But with such a high personal profile and a list of allegations about broken Liberal promises from their political enemies, Mr. Wong could spend the campaign answering for an entire government.Mr. Wong is likely hoping the adage about municipal politics in Ontario being non-partisan bears out this time around.

Here's a suggestion for an election platform:Can someone do something about the Markham-Stouffville line?Right now it's about four farms south of Stouffville Road, cutting an invisible border across green blocks for miles.Steeles Avenue is York’s border with Toronto, Hwy. 7 is Markham's border with Richmond Hill -- it’s not about annexation, just good taste.Move the Markham-Stouffville line north or south, but people like to know where they are.

Richmond Hill might be the cleanest, most-issue driven campaign in York Region.Take a look at the candidate websites for newcomers in that town and on most of ’em, you'll see smiling families and a solid election platform dealing often with local issues like proper management of the Oak Ridges Moraine, better infrastructure and public safety.Where's the excitement in that?The all-candidates meetings should determine if there'’ a seething pit of mud hiding just under the surface.

JOE FANTAUZZI

York York Region Newspaper Group reporter Joe Fantauzzi takes a look at the municipal election campaign through the eyes of the average voter in York Region. His blog, Joe Voter will examine the good, the bad and the ugly of those looking to get your vote on Nov. 13.

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